Fatores da intenção de adoção de aplicativos de saúde móvel (MHEALTH) na Amazônia brasileira: uma análise na perspectiva do usuário

Abstract

MHealth technology has been disseminated as a technological solution for digitizing health services in contexts of low diffusion and technological development. However, there are gaps in the understanding of factors that affect intentions to use and adopt this technology, especially considering more experienced users of mobile application technology. The research aims to investigate technology acceptance in order to assess the determinants of mHealth adoption in the Amazon. To test and validate the proposed conceptual model, structural equation modeling was used with questionnaire data from 352 participants. The results obtained from the research indicate significant relationships between the constructs evaluated and that perceived privacy mediates the effect between trust and behavioral intentions to adopt mHealth applications, as well as indirect influences such as self-efficacy and direct effects such as perceived usefulness and attitude. The use of this model, with four potential antecedents, made it possible to explain 58% of the variance in respondents' behavioral intention to use. In this way, this study provides advances in the debate on the acceptance of technology in mHealth services.